Jagadeesh Arunkumar Picture by Eastern Projections

Guwahati, Jan. 2: Assam cricket captain J. Arunkumar knows what the demands of a winning side are. After all, he was the member of the Karnataka side that won the Ranji trophy thrice in the nineties and had been the captain of the Ranji team that won the plate group in 2002-2003.

This 31-year-old right-hand batsman was also part of the India A team that toured the West Indies in 1999-2000. He was also a member of the India under-19 team and had captained the Karnataka Ranji team, besides being a serious contender for the slot in the Indian team along with Mumbai’s Wasim Jaffer and Tamil Nadu’s Sadgopan Ramesh in 2000.

Having made his debut for Karnataka in 1993-94, Arunkumar has scored nearly 10,000 runs in first class league and one-dayers.

Coach Sanath Kumar K. had played a significant role in convincing the Assam Cricket Association (ACA) to retain Arunkumar as one of their outstation recruits.

Arunkumar has so far scored 542 runs in seven innings, including two centuries and three half centuries. This has justified his selection and elevation to the post of captain.

“Yes, life has come full circle. I thank the ACA and the team members for reposing faith in my ability,” he said.

“If each member carries out his task as planned, we will win the match. Some of the boys are gaining in skills and confidence, which was not the case last year. We have to remain calm and focussed and take each session at a time,” he told The Telegraph.

However, Assam will go into the match with a definite plan. This was evident when Arunkumar said he knows former India internationals Debashis Mohanty and Shiv Sundar Das. “We will definitely plan for players like Das, Mohanty and P. Mullick as I have played against them. We will be planning from tomorrow,” he said.

Sources said the options before the team management on these fronts (opening and middle order) are, however, limited. The selectors will have to take a re-look at the out-of-form Parvez Aziz, Parag Das. Zakaria Zuffri can be tried purely as a batsman for his experience.

Describing the journey so far as a result of team effort, Arunkumar said, “Nishanta (Bordoloi), Arlen (Konwar), Kunal (Saikia), Sujoy (Tarafdar) and Chandan (Rawat) have all contributed. Then there are seniors like Anand (Katti) and Vasanth (Saravanan). It has been a complete team effort. The boys are a much more confident lot today,” he added.

Of the matches played so far, Arunkumar picked the one against former champions Railways as the most memorable. “The two points we got against Railways was the most satisfying,” he added.

Arunkumar’s admiration for the team coach was evident. “Sanath Kumar is great as a team member, very level-headed and very committed to the team’s cause. I have played under a number of coaches, but his technical inputs are second to none. He commands respect from every team member, which has been reflected in our performance so far,” he added.

The admiration is mutual. The coach had praised him yesterday saying, “I share a great working relationship with Arunkumar. He always leads from the front.”